Even though The Blair Witch Project didn't invent the genre, it's probably the best-known and the biggest hit of all the found footage movies. The online marketing campaign was especially revolutionary. It's a shame that Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez never hit these heights again as writers or directors, but they got so much mileage out of their made-up story, considering it was mostly improvised by the then-unknown Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams. The unresolved mystery takes a lot of heat for its ambiguity, yet Ryan's one-man show talks about how haunting the whole thing still feels 25 years later. This 621st edition of Have You Ever Seen also talks a lot about who or what might have caused these 3 to disappear. So face the wall on this penultimate day of both October and of Scary Movie Month as this episode tries to figure out the horrific deal in The Blair Witch Project.

Additional note: both the fake documentary "The Curse Of The Blair Witch" and the 2016 "Blair Witch" have been rewatched since recording this podcast. The "doc" is indeed very effective and even quite eerie. And while the 2016 sequel has its moments, Adam Wingard is WAY too reliant on jump scares and loud shock moments to bother building the dread the original Blair Witch did.

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Halloween Week = extra episodes! Ryan talks by himself here about the 1979 Amityville Horror...and a little about the other Amityville flicks too...all of which are based on a horrific real-life tragedy that led to a (possibly made-up) haunting in that same house. James Brolin and Margot Kidder play newlyweds who move into a place on Long Island with her 3 kids, then it starts messing with all of them...especially Brolin's mind. Chairs rock on their own, furious flies fill a room, fathers get mad and walls bleed...but will the Lutzes listen to what Rod Steiger heard early on and "GET OUT"? In any case, for God's sake, download the 620th edition of Have You Ever Seen as Stuart Rosenberg's fairly-effective horror show is discussed in fairly humorous detail.

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Share your own thoughts about the Amityville franchise. We will see what you say on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) and Bev can be reached on Threads under that same @. Or email us at "[email protected]". Also, look for our episodes on YouTube (@hyesellis in your browser). Comment in the space provided, hit the "like" button and subscribe, so you'll see all that we post on the 'Tube. Also, write up a pleasant review and give us a rating on your podcast app.

We kick off a big week on Have You Ever Seen with our 619th episode, a gab about Tim Burton's (probably) best film. One of the quirkiest directors of all time was actually fairly grounded making this lighthearted biopic. Johnny Depp is troublesome these days, but you can't question his work in Ed Wood as the optimistic, yet stunningly self-unaware title filmmaker. And while the entire cast is right there with him, it's the Oscar-winning Martin Landau who stands out the most as horror icon Bela Lugosi. Ed Wood is also quite sympathetic to Ed's lifestyle, whether it's that he's transgender and hasn't pulled the string on that just yet...or it's simply that he likes to wear women's clothes. In any case, Burton and the team accept the weirdness of this entire crew...and also their lack of talent. So be-vare and take carrrrre as we present a talk about the exploits of the "worst director of all time".

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Contact us on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) or with an email ([email protected]). Bev uses that same @ on Threads, incidentally. Rate, review and subscribe to our podcast in your app, but also look for our episodes on YouTube. It's @hyesellis in your browser. Comment all you like, hit the like button and, hey, subscribe.

Most of our choices so far in this year's Scary Movie Month haven't been all that goosebump-inducing. Creature From The Black Lagoon isn't very frightening either, but Jack Arnold's film WAS influential, especially on Guillermo Del Toro and his Oscar-winning The Shape Of Water. The Gill Man in this 1954 Universal Monster flick might look corny now in his creature suit, but the underwater shots the crew got and the stunts they all did down there remain impressive. The most-famous scene is, of course, when the creature yearns for Julie/a Adams as she swims on the surface. Ah, the loneliness of the outcast. But while the title character is violent, you could also say that he's provoked. There's a lot of "bad guy" blame to go around...to Gill AND to the Richards, Carlson & Denning. So set sail on the Rita with our 618th podcast in your ears as we discuss the soggy doings in Creature From The Black Lagoon.

Well, Actually: the pronunciation of Ricou Browning DOES seem to be "Rico". Also, the 1975 and 2005 King Kong films should have been called "remakes", not "sequels". Also also, Arthur Ross wrote "The Creature WALKS Among Us", not "The Creature Among Us".

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Contact us! Our email address is "[email protected]". On Twi-X, we're @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis. Bev can be found on Threads with that same handle. Rate and review us on your podcast app. And look for our shows on YouTube (@hyesellis in your browser). Comment, like and subscribe.

Fridays mean Ryan posts monologues on Have You Ever Seen and our 617th episode digs a one-man hole into Pet Sematary. Mary Lambert's 1989 horror show about unholy reanimation keeps on reminding us that "sometimes dead is better". The one who's always saying that, Fred Gwynne, is probably the best actor in this cast, although he's not THAT much better than the underwhelming Dale Midkiff or Denise Crosby. The horror highlights in the last act are excellent though. Pet Sematary also has many links to The Shining, which are 2 of the most-vivid Stephen King books. No, this gore-soaked film isn't close to perfect, but it might chill your blood more than once. So stop listening to the coot who lives across a very dangerous road and start listening to the 617th edition of Have You Ever Seen.

Go to "sparkplug.coffee" to discover the coffee gems they offer. One thing they offer is a onetime 20% discount to those who use our "HYES" promo code, so add "/hyes" to the web address to make that happen.

Anyone wanting to tell us what they think can hit us up on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) or fire off an email ([email protected]). Bev is available with that same @ on Threads. Also, rate and review our show on your podcast app. And look for our work on YouTube (@hyesellis in your browser). We look forward to comments, likes and subscriptions.

This is our 31 days of films that have chills & thrills, but Have You Ever Seen's 3rd posting in Scary Movie Month (and our 616th episode overall) is far more funny than it is frightening. Just like Shaun Of The Dead last week, much mirth results from nitwits dealing with reanimated corpses. Mel Brooks' beloved blockbuster is a satire of the classic Universal monster story and he's got his co-writer Gene Wilder leading a fantastic cast. Gene is a riot himself in one of Ryan's Top 10 fave comedies, even if Young Frankenstein turned out to be A LITTLE less of a grin-fest than it's been in the past. The comic highlights remain some of the most-hilarious of all time though, particularly the blind man, "Puttin' On The Ritz" and just about everything Marty Feldman and Madeleine Kahn do. So play some violin to calm Peter Boyle's savage beast as you gulp down this super-duper-like-Gary-Cooper monologue about Young Frankenstein.

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Email us ([email protected]) with your own thoughts about this film or any other we've reviewed. We're reachable on Twi-X too (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis...she uses that @ on Threads as well). And our podcasts always go up on YouTube (@hyesellis in your browser). Comment, like, subscribe. Oh, and we'd love a rating and a review on your podcast app.

The first episode in Scary Movie Month 2024 that the Ellises are doing together gets into the second leg of Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy. We covered Hot Fuzz a few years ago, but this one that put the Englishman on the map is—-to one of us—-funnier...and is his best film. As always with Wright and Simon Pegg, the flick is jammed with clever references to other movies. And in their zombie rom-com, they found the perfect pace while also finding ways to eek humour out of frightening or disgusting or even stupid situations. Nick Frost plays a horrible friend, but he's a grin-getter. Pegg is the funniest one in the cast though. So, pickle, head to the shop for an ice cream & a Coke, then make amends with your mum, your stepdad and also your girlfriend as you run the 615th edition of Have You Ever Seen under a cold tap.

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Tell us your thoughts about this movie or any other we've reviewed. Email is good ([email protected]) and so are hellos on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis...which is also what Bev goes by on Threads). Rate and review us in your podcast app. And look for us on YouTube (@hyesellis). Like the show, subscribe to it and drop in a comment or ten.

Bob Clark made his name directing popular comedies in the '80s like Porky's and A Christmas Story, but his 1974 horror flick about a home-invading murderer has become a classic too. And that's good because Scary Movie Month 2024 is here! The ending of Black Christmas is one of the best in the history of horror...even if it also has MANY flaws. Ryan's one-man show gets into that, but also talks about how this film just might be better than ever. Clark's direction and his use of the camera are dynamite. Leading ladies and sorority sisters Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder are lovely, but this is not a nudity-drenched slash-'em-up. And in the annals of the "final girl", Hussey in Black Christmas is one of the greatest. So hang up the phone, be pro-choice and avoid the unseen killer in your attic as you take in Have You Ever Seen episode #614.

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Feedback! It's good. Email us ([email protected]), contact us on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis...same @ for her on Threads) and look for this episode on YouTube. The address in your browser should be "@hyesellis". Comment on the 'Tube, like the show and subscribe to it. Oh, and give us a nice rating and a wordy review on your podcast app as well.

We're hours away from Scary Movie Month and---while Nightcrawler doesn't exactly qualify as frightening---it IS intense. Jake Gyllenhaal is certainly at his Taxi Driver weirdest. He's also just about at his best in Dan Gilroy's investigation of capitalism-at-any-cost. Rough stuff, but it's also quite funny. Gyllenhaal plays an amoral "stringer" (a freelance videographer) who knows that ratings equals money and "if it bleeds, it leads". He'll do absolutely anything to get the shot...and then we discover the gory results. Rene Russo, Bill Paxton and Riz Ahmed are effective too, but this film belongs to the worm in the lead role. So doll up to look your best before you go on the air to glorify crime scenes and put a scare in your viewers as the 613rd episode of Have You Ever Seen gets deep into the scummy world of Nightcrawler.

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Let us know what you think of this thriller with an email ([email protected]) or a tweet on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis...same @ for Bev on Threads). We also put our shows on YouTube later on the day they go up on your podcast app. Rate and review our shows on your app, but also comment and like our show, but also subscribe to the YouTube channel (@hyesellis in your browser).

Scarlett Johansson playing a cold, indifferent alien probably wasn't something her fans expected from her. She was an A-lister who was a key figure in all those Marvel movies, but here she was in Under The Skin, the only actor of note in a detached art film. The movie star even gets nude a lot in her role as a succubus who learns how to feel empathy. Jonathan Glazer's strangest film to date is Kubrickian (and Lynchian) in its style and also its themes of gender roles, sexual assault...and even meat-eating. So Under The Skin isn't perfect, but there are shots that really stay with you. Plus, it's interesting...and we mean that in a good way. This 612th podcast on the Have You Ever Seen channel tries to figure out what's going on in Glazer's 3rd motion picture (perhaps unsuccessfully), so tell us if you think we're onto something...or if ou think we're way off.

Well, Actually: Gemma Arterton's first name is in fact pronounced with a hard "J" sound, not a soft "G" sound.

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Share your own theories about this unique film. Email us ([email protected]), hit us with some tweets on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis...same @ for Bev on Threads) and give us a rating on your podcast app. Review our show too. Oh, and go to @hyesellis in your browser to find our show on YouTube. You can comment all you like, plus you can hit us with a thumbs up. And don't forget to subscribe there and on your app.